I’m sort of reticent to mention any business that calls itself “Hipster Home,” but I have to admit that these rings are awfully cute.

It’s quite a nice ring: The eyes are cut diamonds rather than chips, and the metal is sterling silver and/or 14k gold. The one shown here is gold-plated, but they have several other options, and they also do custom work. This would make a nice engagement ring for the goth-minded girl. It’s got the “Til Death Do Us Part” thing built right in.

(via Awesome)

Valerie Confections offers something they call the Mori ex Cacao Collection: Bittersweet chocolate skulls with a truffle center. For $25 apiece. Whuf. Unless these things weigh 11 pounds each, I’m thinking they’re a tad overpriced.*

Fortunately, truffles are ridiculously simple to make and snuggling them into a skull-shaped candy shell isn’t much harder. With a bit of time and patience you can turn out this unique edible for a fraction of the cost.

You’ll need to start with a 3D skull candy mold, such as this one. A mold used for Mexican sugar skulls might also work, although they tend to be a bit larger than what you might want for a chocolate item.

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This is inspired by an idea from Zakka Life, with a slightly darker twist.

These little figurines are Playmobil toys, which I simply love. All of the Playmobil line is wonderfully imaginative and detailed, and surprisingly inexpensive. They’re also the perfect size to make unique place cards which double as favors. Get one for each guest, print names on stiff paper or cardstock, and give one to each creature to hold. They’re great for dinner or Halloween parties, and would also make cute wedding favors.

The two little guys seen here are a skeleton filched from Shadowboy’s Treasure Island set, and a Scary Ghost that sits on my desk and makes co-workers nervous. There are tons of other options available, including a Castle Ghost, Ghost Pirate, Mummy Case with Skeleton, not to mention Vikings and Pirates and Fairies and if their next playset involves zombies it would not surprise me in the least. Playmobil also makes a few figures that are only available around Halloween, including vampires and witches, so you might want to stock up.

Fun, cheap, and easy. Three things I look for in a project.

Here’s one of my favorite types of project: Something that looks way better than it ought to, given the amount of time and effort involved.

This uses some of the same techniques as the picture frame tutorial I did a while back, and it could hardly be easier. The book would be great for a diary, grimoire, or wedding guest book. It would also make a nice decorative prop for Halloween.

The complete tutorial is here. Knock yourselves out.

I ran across these “decorative wine bottles” at the Z Gallerie site the other day, and was somewhat astonished to see that they were $33 a pop. Egad. For $33 you can buy a very decent bottle of wine and make your own decorations when it’s empty.

Go ahead and empty a bottle of wine. I’ll wait.

Now, soak the bottle in warm water to remove the existing label. You may need to scrape it with a razor blade and/or clean off any remaining gummy stuff with a product like Goo Gone. Make sure you wash and dry thoroughly afterwards.

If you want a drippy-wax look on the neck, do it before adding your new label. For a real wax seal, use wax designed for this purpose–you can get it at most homebrew suppliers–and melt it in a double boiler. Dip the top of the bottle in the wax and rotate it slowly for 10-15 seconds to get a nice smooth covering. Pull straight up, let any excess wax drip off, then set right-side up to cool. You can also fake the effect by carefully dripping hot glue around the neck. There are many different colors of hot glue available, so you don’t have to settle for that weird translucent dun color.

Design your label using your favorite graphics software. The print dimensions should be somewhere in the 3″ wide x 5″ high range, but anything that’ll fit on the bottle should be fine. Give your “product” an evocative name like Skeleton Cellars or Witch River Winery, and find an appropriate graphic. By way of example I created a couple using illustrations by Gustav Doré. (Feel free to pilfer them if you like.)

Ghost Moon
Dark Harvest

Print and affix to bottle. You can purchase blank labels that are specifically meant for wine bottles, but unless you plan to mass-produce these things that’s probably overkill. It’s likely easier and cheaper to print on full-page labels (or just use heavy-duty paper and spray adhesive) and trim to fit. If printing on an ink-jet printer, don’t forget to seal the label to keep the ink from running.

All done! Display them with pride.

Incidentally, personalized wine bottles also make a nice wedding favor if you don’t mind doing a lot of scraping and gluing. Obviously, if you’re presenting full bottles, use real wax on the seal rather than hot glue. (I mean, I think it’s obvious, but I don’t want to be eaten by a ravening pack of personal-injury lawyers.)

I’ve mentioned a sneaking love of Steampunk previously; it’s Victorian style and little ratchety bits, which is an awesome combination.

Siouxzi Rodeman and Alan Donnelly obviously agree, since they themed their entire wedding around the idea. I love the level of detail involved in the effort: They had clockwork cakes, custom-printed ties for the groomsmen, and all kinds of great neo-Victorian accessories. They even got a bunch of broken watches from a local clock repair place and used the mechanisms in their costumes.

Offbeat Bride has more, including links to their huge Flickr photoset. Lovely!

UglyShyla created this adorable cake topper for her friend’s wedding cake. The bride, wanting to make sure the groom knew just what he was signing up for, wanted the topper to depict her eating his brains.

She doesn’t specify what it’s made of (could be clay, could be marzipan), but it’s a pretty good likeness.

Link (via BoingBoing)

From A Midsummer Night’s Dream:

Now the wasted brands do glow
Whilst the screech-owl, screeching loud,
Puts the wretch that lies in woe
In remembrance of a shroud.
Now it is the time of night
That the graves, all gaping wide,
Every one lets forth his sprite
In the churchway paths to glide;
And we fairies that do run
By the triple Hecate’s team
From the presence of the sun,
Following darkness like a dream,
Now are frolic. Not a mouse
Shall disturb this hallowed house.

This might be pretty as a pull quote inside a wedding invitation.

These folks offer original handmade Gothic and Alternative greeting cards, gothic wedding stationery, and gift tags. Very evocative stuff, and perfect for special invitations or greetings.

Link

This company offers handmade candles with scents like “Dracula,” “Crypt Moss,” and “Harvest.” Their votives would make nice wedding favors, too.

I got their “Vampire” collection (Cain, Dracula, Lilith, Nosferatu) a while back, and I hated to light them because they smelled so good. They currently live a quiet existence in my prop closet, hitting me in the face with a wave of patchouli and clove and making me smile whenever I open the door.*

Link

*Which is fairly often. I wondered the other day how many suburban homes have a big box labeled “Bones” in their basement.